Would a $10,000 to $20,000 outlay of city funds lead to the
establishment of a new tele-work center in Tracy?

Tracy Economic Development Authority members are scheduled to
consider that question next week, as they weigh a proposal from a
Bloomington consulting firm.

Everest Information Services has offered to provide analysis
and design services that it says would make Tracy attractive for
a tele-work centers. The cost to the city for Everest's services
is estimated at between $10,000 to $20,000.

They aren't making any guarantees, but they feel
confident that there would be businesses wanting to come into
Tracy with a telework center if we did this, comments
Robert Gervais, Tracy Community Development Director.

A tele-work center would employ local people at a Tracy work
site. By utilizing on-line technology, tele-work center employees
could perform services for a variety of business and agencies.
For example, a tele-work center might be contracted to answer
consumer product questions for a company. Tele-work centers could
be involved in sales and marketing. Some centers could perform
specialized projects on-line for companies. Employees would be
trained to the specific needs of the project.

Technology is definitely the wave of the future,
said Gervais. It doesn't matter where you live anymore. The
Internet makes it possible for people to do the same work that
they used to have to drive into the city to do.

Community gardensset near high
school

Southwest Foundation provides seed money with $10,000
grant

Tracy Area High School students have a chance to become ag
entrepreneurs this fall, thanks to a successful grant written by
industrial arts instructor Chris Howard.

A $10,000 grant from the Southwest Minnesota Foundation will
help Tracy FFA students develop community gardens on school
property near the high school.

The school district is matching the grant by providing land,
student labor, water costs and machinery expenses. This fall is
the target date for launching the program.

Youth entrepreneurs will run the program. Students will
determine details such as how the plots will be laid out, the
most efficient way to provide water, and marketing.

The community gardens will be located in a 75 x 125-foot area
east of the football practice fields. Currently there are several
apple trees on the plot. Preliminary plans call for planting
additional apple trees and starting a self-pick strawberry patch.

TNT grant would establishtechnology
center in Tracy

Is a technology center on the horizon for Tracy?

Yes, if a grant application from the Technology and
Telecommunication Consortium (TNT) of Southwest Minnesota is
successful. TNT recently applied for $250,000 worth of federal
grants to establish technology centers in 16 Southwest Minnesota
communities, including Tracy.

The technology centers would be located in Luverne, Lakefield,
Marshall, Montevideo, Olivia, Ortonville, Redwood Falls,
Franklin, Willmar Worthington, Benson, Appleton, Spicer, Dawson,
Granite Falls, and Tracy. All are members of the TNT consortium.

A TNT grant application, submitted to the U.S. Department of
Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education, seeks to
develop a network of locally managed community technology
centers. The goal is to create a regional interactive
virtual learning community by linking people and
regional education service providers.

Jeff Salmon, Tracy representative on the TNT board, is
optimistic about the grant prospects.

Assisted living plans still unsettled

Plans for a proposed assisted living building project
involving the Prairie View Health Care Center and Tracy Hospital
remain unresolved.

We're definitely going to do it, it's just a matter of
when, reports Tim Byrne, Prairie View administrator.
It's taking longer than we originally thought.

The Sioux Valley Health Network, which leases the Tracy
Hospital, clinic and O'Brien Court from the City of Tracy,
remains interested in a joint-assisted living project, according
to Dan Reiner, Tracy Area Medical Services administrator.

We believe there are some opportunities, Reiner
said of the proposed cooperative venture. But he added,
nothing is happening now. Reiner said planning can
not progress until decisions are made by Prairie View's owners.

Tealwood, the corporate entity that owns Prairie View,
announced plans in March of 2000 to build a 20 to 30-unit
assisted-living apartment complex off the south side of the
existing nursing home. Groundbreaking was to have occurred in
July of 2000.

Church ground-breaking

Christian & Missionary Alliance dream
comes closer

Parishioners of the Tracy Christian & Missionary Alliance
Church raised their voices in prayer and song Sunday morning as
they witnessed a dream coming true.

As a breeze whispered through a sun-dappled alfalfa field, the
congregation held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new church
building. The new church will be located in the Broadacres
Addition.

Pastor Edsel Miller recalled that a new church building has
long been a goal of the congregation. It's been talked
about many years, he said. He thanked previous generations
who laid the foundations for the new building project.

The 4,000 square foot church is being built on a four-acre
parcel on Front Street, northeast of Tracy Elementary School. The
one-level church will have a sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen,
offices and classrooms. Completion is targeted by the end of this
year. Art Peterson is the general contractor.

Pastor Miller told parishioners that they shouldn't think of
the new church as something that they are building.
God is the one who is making this church possible.

Although the congregation undoubtly will enjoy the new
building, Pastor Miller told his parishioners that the new church
also needed to serve those outside its walls.

Museum has new flock of fine-feathered
friends

By Dave Brakke

Thanks to a donation from Ruthton, the Wheels Across the
Prairie has a new display featuring birds of the Upper Midwest

A collection of mounted birds was donated to the Tracy museum
from the school in Ruthton.

"We are always glad to take donations of any kind,
said Dorthey Pamp, museum president.

The stuffed birds are interspersed throughout the museum.
Future plans call for the birds' move to the museum's 19th
century log cabin. The cabin is now being restored.